Publications

July 1998 (Revised December 1998)
Background Note

Down General Management Memory Lane

By: Ashish Nanda

Offered at the end of a twenty-five session course on general management, this note reviews the course and reflects on major parts of learning. View Details

Keywords: Management

March 2024
Teaching Note

'Storrowed': A Generative AI Exercise

By: Mitchell Weiss

Teaching Note for HBS Exercise No. 824-188. “Storrowed” is an exercise to help participants raise their proficiency with generative AI. It begins by highlighting a problem: trucks getting wedged underneath bridges in Boston, Massachusetts on the city’s Storrow Drive.... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Government Administration; Transportation Industry; Public Administration Industry

June 1995 (Revised February 1998)
Case

Welsh Water (A): General Information

This is a four-player negotiation simulation in which a newly-privatized British water utility must deal with contentious unions and national collective-bargaining agreements. Explores the question of coalitions and multi-lateral negotiations, and the value of... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Privatization; Labor Unions; Utilities Industry; Wales

January 1989 (Revised March 2009)
Supplement

General Electric: Valley Forge (C)

Supplements General Electric: Valley Forge (A). View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Pennsylvania

January 1989 (Revised February 1991)
Supplement

General Electric: Valley Forge (D)

Supplements General Electric: Valley Forge (A). View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing Industry; Pennsylvania

January 1989 (Revised February 1991)
Supplement

General Electric: Valley Forge (B)

Supplements General Electric: Valley Forge (A). View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing Industry; Pennsylvania

January 1989 (Revised April 1991)
Case

General Electric: Valley Forge (A)

A series of eight vignette cases designed to be taught in one classroom session. This case describes a potential problem in the way that General Electric has billed the government under a large defense contract. Designed to allow students to discuss what actions top... View Details

Keywords: Government Administration; Contracts; Policy; Accounting; Management Teams; Business and Government Relations; Industrial Products Industry

November 1990 (Revised April 1999)
Case

General Motors: Packard Electric Division

By: Steven C. Wheelwright

Packard Electric is the division of General Motors (GM) that does all of the electrical wiring and cabling for GM automobiles. They developed a new approach for passing the cables through the firewall between the engine and passenger compartments. The new technology... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Cost; Management Style; Product Design; Product Development; Production; Projects; Groups and Teams; Conflict and Resolution; Technology; Auto Industry

January 2021 (Revised May 2021)
Case

'GEnron'? Markopolos versus General Electric (A)

By: Jonas Heese and David Lane

In August 2019, Harry Markopolos—the forensic accountant known for uncovering Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme—alleged that General Electric had committed accounting fraud totaling $38 billion, coining the term “GEnron” for perceived similarities with the 2001 accounting... View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Communication; Energy; Financial Condition; Insurance; Performance; Planning; Business and Shareholder Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Value; Insurance Industry; Financial Services Industry; Energy Industry

November 2012 (Revised November 2013)
Case

Generator Hostels: The Way Out

By: Nicolas P. Retsinas and Lisa Strope

Josh Wyatt, Director of Patron Capital Partners, needs to make an exit decision for a successful investment in Generator Hostels. After five years of explosive growth and in the middle of a financial crisis, Wyatt needs to evaluate Patron's alternatives: IPO the... View Details

Keywords: Hotel; Real Estate; Finance; Property; Accommodations Industry; European Union

"Storrowed" is an exercise to help participants raise their capacity and curiosity for generative AI. It focuses on generative AI for problem understanding and ideation. The exercise begins with the following introduction: "A problem vexed Boston, Massachusetts,... View Details

11 AM – 12:30 PM EDT, 12 Mar 2025
Virtual Programming

"Storrowed": Getting Hands-on with Generative AI

"Storrowed" is a Generative AI session created and led by HBS professor Mitch Weiss to build that proficiency. In a lively, interactive fashion he introduces the latest in generative AI techniques for innovation and more broadly. View Details

Web

Generative AI - Alumni

Careers Generative AI Careers Generative AI In today's dynamic job market, Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) stands out as a powerful ally for job seekers, offering... View Details

02 Apr 2007
Lessons from the Classroom

Making the Move to General Manager

People achieve success in the early years of their career by specializing and becoming functional experts—in essence, they succeed by knowing more and more about less and less, says Benjamin C. Esty, chair of the General Management... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

October 1993 (Revised April 1994)
Case

Jack Welch: General Electric's Revolutionary

By: Joseph L. Bower and Jay Dial

Describes the work of Jack Welch as CEO of General Electric from 1981 to 1992, focusing particularly on his transformation of the company's portfolio through extensive dispositions and acquisitions and the company's culture through a mandated process called "work out."... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Transformation; Investment Portfolio; Leadership Style; Management; Organizational Culture; Personal Development and Career

Research Summary

General research interests

Implications of information technology for strategy and operations
Organizational knowledge, learning, and information processing
Business growth and scalable organizational architectures
Japanese busines
High technology... View Details

January 1960
Case

General Motors Corp.

March 2012 (Revised July 2018)
Case

V-Cola: General Instructions

By: Ian Larkin and Hal Movius

V-Cola is a six-party exercise that simulates a negotiation between a boutique advertising agency and a beverage company that is launching a new product. Each of the six parties has different incentives and information, which leads to a complex, realistic simulation... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Process; Contracts; Information; Motivation and Incentives; Advertising Industry; Food and Beverage Industry